Tarik Skubal finishes season with American League Triple Crown

Tarik Skubal had a season for the ages.

The Detroit Tigers ace finished the season Sunday leading the American League in wins, ERA and strikeouts, making him the 21st man to win the pitching Triple Crown.

The Atlanta Braves’ Chris Sale is in the running to win the NL Triple Crown. He might pitch Monday in the doubleheader that will decide the last two wild cards in the NL. If Sale clears the stat hurdles (his ERA is 2.38, ahead of Zack Wheeler’s 2.57 and he’s locked to be the top strikeout pitcher and winner this season with 225 Ks and 18 victories) it would be only the second time in the past century that pitchers have won the Triple Crown in both leagues in the same season, with the previous time being Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander in 2011.

There were also dual Triple Crowns in 1924 (Walter Johnson, Dazzy Vance), 1918 (Walter Johnson, Hippo Vaughn) and 1905 (Christy Mathewson, Rube Waddell).

Sale’s and Skubal’s achievement leaves little suspense for Cy Young voting this year. Since the award’s creation in 1956, no pitcher has ever lost the Cy Young Award after winning the Triple Crown.

Tarik Skubal was a rising star — now he’s just a star

To understand how wild Skubal’s rise is, we have to look back nearly a decade. He was hardly a prospect coming out of high school, when he was throwing in the 80s. His only college scholarship offer: Seattle University.

Skubal had a solid freshman year, then tore his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery as a sophomore. He missed all of 2017 and had a 4.16 ERA his senior year. His stuff was still good enough for him to be selected by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

He became a top prospect with a breakout 2019 season in High-A and Double-A, and he made his MLB debut in 2020. He was roughly league-average in 2021, with a 4.34 ERA in 149 1/3 innings. He improved in 2022 but had his season ended prematurely by flexor tendon surgery. He came back in 2023 and looked good enough to become the Tigers’ Opening Day starter this season.

Skubal has decreased his ERA by more than half a run in every season since he made his debut, and now he’s one of the top pitchers in baseball. That rise has coincided with a velocity increase, going from a four-seamer averaging 94.4 mph as a rookie to 96.8 mph this season.

With Skubal pitching a full season, the Tigers went from 78-84 last season to the playoffs this season, their first postseason berth since 2014. He’s projected to be the Game 1 starter for Detroit against the Houston Astros.

Skubal has raised his stock nearly every year since he was in high school, overcoming multiple major surgeries to become a hitter’s nightmare. Whereas Sale showed this season that he still has it, Skubal might just be getting started.